House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) detailed new legislation aimed at banning members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks during an exclusive appearance on Breitbart News Daily this week, presenting the bill as a step toward restoring public trust in elected officials.
The bill, introduced earlier this week, would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing individual publicly traded securities and would impose strict requirements on the sale of existing holdings. “If you want to be a stock trader and a day trader, go to Wall Street, don’t come to Capitol Hill,” Steil said, framing the legislation as a necessary move to eliminate even the appearance of impropriety.
Steil explained that the legislation includes three core provisions: a ban on purchasing new individual stocks upon election to Congress, a mandatory seven-day public notice prior to selling any existing holdings, and significant financial penalties for violations. “Draconian penalties” were necessary, he contended, to deter unethical behavior, including a $2,000 fine or 10 percent of the sale value—whichever is greater—along with forfeiture of any profits gained. “It removes all of the financial incentive of an individual from being able to try to profit off of insider information,” Steil asserted.
Steil pointed to the case of a former Senate Intelligence Committee chair who dumped nearly all of his stock holdings ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. “That doesn’t give anybody a lot of confidence as to what’s going on in Washington, D.C.,” he remarked, arguing that blanket prohibitions are needed to prevent similar events in the future. “Let’s put restrictions on any type of sale, and let’s reinstate the confidence and integrity of the institution that I think it so desperately needs once again,” he declared.
While acknowledging arguments that lawmakers should retain investment rights similar to other citizens, Steil insisted that elected officials take on a fiduciary duty that requires additional ethical safeguards. “We put a lot of rules and restrictions on members of Congress that they can’t earn outside income,” he explained, adding that such restrictions exist “because they’re susceptible to all sorts of persuasion by outside groups.”
The legislation is rapidly gaining support, with over 70 House members co-sponsoring the bill at the time of the interview. Steil stated that both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise had endorsed fast-tracking the bill. “We already have a majority of the Committee on House Administration publicly supporting this legislation,” he commented. “I think it’s going to be the most transformative thing we’ve done on integrity in the House in a darn long time.”
Steil’s district, Wisconsin’s First, is considered highly competitive. “This is one of the most balanced districts in the country,” he noted, citing its R+2 Partisan Voting Index. In a previous cycle, he secured reelection by ten points, which he attributes to staying connected to voters and holding in-person events. “I think I was the only one that did in-person town halls,” he said, despite confrontations with “radical leftists” who disrupted some events. “The overwhelming majority of people want to see a member stand up and explain their conservative positions.”
As Chair of the House Administration Committee—the oldest in the House—Steil plays a central role in overseeing the operations of the legislative branch, including the U.S. Capitol Police and the Library of Congress, as well as shaping federal election law. “It picks up a lot of our ethics work,” he remarked, highlighting the insider trading bill as an example of the committee’s impact.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Seth Magaziner (D-RI) claimed the bill “falls short of what the American people want and deserve.” Steil responded, “There’s Democrats that don’t want anyone in the country to own anything. They want to socialize everything, right? You won’t own your car. You won’t own your house.” He affirmed the legislation was written to allow individuals with real-world experience to still serve, adding, “Anyone that has had a successful business career, people that understand accounting and balance sheets and getting our debt and bringing our debt down—we want those people, ultimately, to be able to have an opportunity to come to Congress.” He observed, “Everyone has to be able to store their values somewhere, right?”
Steil expressed confidence in the bill’s future, calling it “a win for the Republican Conference” and stating, “I think when it comes to the floor of the House of Representatives, we’re going to see overwhelming support in favor of this legislation.”
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